Yesterday, Simon Heffer’s piece in The Telegraph nailed it: Milton’s Paradise Lost reads like a grim prophecy for our current era of authoritarianism and right-wing spectacle.
This hits like a two by four across the face. Those words, carefully hidden in the recesses of my mind, sprang up uglier than when I first read them. Then, it was poetic fiction, now, it’s a plan of action.
Like you, Rick, I’m revisiting Paradise Lost after decades. Trump as Satan and Musk, Navarro, Patel, et al is a perfect fit. Democrats had better step up and fight like hell. We can no longer depend on the”sane” Republicans.
I'm currently in London and now plan to head to Foyles to get my own copy. I think great literature can help us find knowledge and courage at this time. You are entirely correct that we fight every inch of the way.
Now I’m diving into Paradise Lost. Thanks for the inspiration.
IMHO opposition leaders have not internalized the essence of Trump as a media phenomenon. Without the spectacle, he is just a whiny, weak old fool with an illiterate, hateful fan club who are collectively and individually about to Find Out.
Opponents must fight him on his own turf with his own weapons - media, spectacle, shows of force. Play the game we’re in, not the one we want it to be.
I’m supremely disappointed in Canada’s Justin Trudeau, validating Trump’s political theatre about illegal immigration and drug trafficking, instead of pushing back with a full onslaught media campaign about the real numbers and the costs of the tariffs that will be borne by Americans mostly. Instead, Justin bent the knee, at the Florida golf club, for the cameras, giving Trump his opportunity to look earth-shaking even before inauguration. Obeying in advance, at great expense to Canada’s limited police resources when our national security is at greater risk than ever before in modern history.
By “shows of force” I don’t mean violence. I mean numbers - rallies, protests, petitions, political speech. More violence is not the answer to their violence and hatred.
You are absolutely right on Rick Wilson. Where are the fighting politicians who would at least put up a continuous fight for us. They are failing us now and we are doomed when they re-elect Schumer, Durbin and other spineless democrats. I'm not ever donating another dime, and I've maxed out a lot of Individual donations to the party,
1. Rick is correct in stating that DJT and his entire ecosystem of freaks hate what America truly is. If there is any good news here, it's that their dystopian fantasy is clearly exposing the emptiness ugliness of their souls. It's our collective job and responsibility to name, expose, and attack their rancidness and call what it is: Hatred for America.
2. My parents grew poor and black in 1930's Alabama. They were fighters, literal and otherwise, who didn't back down from anyone. My life was and still is relatively easy because of their resilience and hard work. I figure if they could endure that horror, then those of us living in today's world have no right to whimper about our circumstances. Whenever I hear some liberal/progressive commentator whine about being scared or see center-right conservative cowardly skulking about silenctly hoping they can avoid confronting this evil, I just want to puke.
Time to fight people. Past, current, and future generations are counting on us.
You've finally made sense of Paradise Lost to me. What an apt description of what we see happening right here, right now.
I am not sure which one - Trump or Vance - is the devil himself. (BTW, where IS Vance these days?). Vance is smarter, slicker and more cunning than Trump, and he's even more extreme.
Whichever one it is, they and their MAGA minions couldn't be more dangerous to our country as they try to destroy all norms, beliefs, and precedents that we have held dear for 250 years.
It's a truly sad state of affairs, and I see little hope of curbing them. I mostly just have to block out out all news in order to keep my sanity.
Vance is gross but he's more normal gross and we can fight that all day everyday. Plus he does not inspire the kind of insane devotion Trump does. He's got negative charisma.
Be careful of what you wish for. JD Vance is a wholly owned subsidiary of the ideological anti-democracy gazillionaire Peter Theil. And by wholly owned subsidiary, I'm being the proverbial gnat's moustache away from literal.
... as below, I read Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny" and we should have heeded his 20 suggestions 8 or 9 years ago - when he wrote the book.
President Biden is sleepwalking through the balance of his term. We have many who have pleaded with him to save lives by commuting all federal/military death inmates before January. So, he pardons his son in a wide-ranging edict, but nary a word in public response to the end of a hateful and hated execution policy initiated four years ago by Mr. T, who caused 13 executions in six months of his term at the end thereof - - all before January 6, 2020. Guess what's going to happen next year, folks?
Until we all ask God (in whatever form we frame Him) to help us straighten our national course so we can truly "stay (it)", He will probably let us all end like the Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, Germans, Russians and the rest of our godless historical prototypes, because we are those who go out of our way to "ignore history, (so) we will be condemned to repeat it". It may be too late already and I think it will take Divine intervention to help us out of this hellish whirlpool. If we do not ask, we will not receive.
Number 2 on the list is the priority, IMO. The more effectively we can counter the massive 24/7/365 disinfo campaign, the easier it will be to take care of the other items. We can all do this on an individual scale by countering disinfo where we see it online. Fact check, cite reliable sources (as nonpartisan as possible), but don’t make it a personal attack. Use the “soft start-up” - like “This doesn’t appear to be accurate”. Avoid the word “you” - that will only elicit a defensive response. Don’t fight with the person making the false assertion. Provide the correct info with links and move on. You’re not going to change the alleged mind of a hard-core MAGA. Your goal is to inform the merely misinformed non-cult members. There are more of them than you think.
Old, annotated books are treasures. I was lucky enough to receive my great-grandfather’s 1919 copy of “Paradise Lost”.
Where did Rick Wilson go? Now I know. Straight to hell… via Paradise Lost… and back. Shrewd maneuver.
Olbermann goes scorched earth on Pete Hegseth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmw2GKL48T0
Eloquently on point, thank you.
Well said, Rick.
That said — God’s creation of Satan and Trump and God’s allowing them any space in the universe is … disappointing.
This hits like a two by four across the face. Those words, carefully hidden in the recesses of my mind, sprang up uglier than when I first read them. Then, it was poetic fiction, now, it’s a plan of action.
Like you, Rick, I’m revisiting Paradise Lost after decades. Trump as Satan and Musk, Navarro, Patel, et al is a perfect fit. Democrats had better step up and fight like hell. We can no longer depend on the”sane” Republicans.
I'm currently in London and now plan to head to Foyles to get my own copy. I think great literature can help us find knowledge and courage at this time. You are entirely correct that we fight every inch of the way.
Now I’m diving into Paradise Lost. Thanks for the inspiration.
IMHO opposition leaders have not internalized the essence of Trump as a media phenomenon. Without the spectacle, he is just a whiny, weak old fool with an illiterate, hateful fan club who are collectively and individually about to Find Out.
Opponents must fight him on his own turf with his own weapons - media, spectacle, shows of force. Play the game we’re in, not the one we want it to be.
I’m supremely disappointed in Canada’s Justin Trudeau, validating Trump’s political theatre about illegal immigration and drug trafficking, instead of pushing back with a full onslaught media campaign about the real numbers and the costs of the tariffs that will be borne by Americans mostly. Instead, Justin bent the knee, at the Florida golf club, for the cameras, giving Trump his opportunity to look earth-shaking even before inauguration. Obeying in advance, at great expense to Canada’s limited police resources when our national security is at greater risk than ever before in modern history.
By “shows of force” I don’t mean violence. I mean numbers - rallies, protests, petitions, political speech. More violence is not the answer to their violence and hatred.
You are absolutely right on Rick Wilson. Where are the fighting politicians who would at least put up a continuous fight for us. They are failing us now and we are doomed when they re-elect Schumer, Durbin and other spineless democrats. I'm not ever donating another dime, and I've maxed out a lot of Individual donations to the party,
.
Please don’t give up. Keep calling, keep writing, even if you’re not their constituent. Your words matter.
I have two comments:
1. Rick is correct in stating that DJT and his entire ecosystem of freaks hate what America truly is. If there is any good news here, it's that their dystopian fantasy is clearly exposing the emptiness ugliness of their souls. It's our collective job and responsibility to name, expose, and attack their rancidness and call what it is: Hatred for America.
2. My parents grew poor and black in 1930's Alabama. They were fighters, literal and otherwise, who didn't back down from anyone. My life was and still is relatively easy because of their resilience and hard work. I figure if they could endure that horror, then those of us living in today's world have no right to whimper about our circumstances. Whenever I hear some liberal/progressive commentator whine about being scared or see center-right conservative cowardly skulking about silenctly hoping they can avoid confronting this evil, I just want to puke.
Time to fight people. Past, current, and future generations are counting on us.
Finally... a plan!! Thank you Rick.
You've finally made sense of Paradise Lost to me. What an apt description of what we see happening right here, right now.
I am not sure which one - Trump or Vance - is the devil himself. (BTW, where IS Vance these days?). Vance is smarter, slicker and more cunning than Trump, and he's even more extreme.
Whichever one it is, they and their MAGA minions couldn't be more dangerous to our country as they try to destroy all norms, beliefs, and precedents that we have held dear for 250 years.
It's a truly sad state of affairs, and I see little hope of curbing them. I mostly just have to block out out all news in order to keep my sanity.
Vance is gross but he's more normal gross and we can fight that all day everyday. Plus he does not inspire the kind of insane devotion Trump does. He's got negative charisma.
Yes. I'm ready for President Vance RIGHT NOW!
Be careful of what you wish for. JD Vance is a wholly owned subsidiary of the ideological anti-democracy gazillionaire Peter Theil. And by wholly owned subsidiary, I'm being the proverbial gnat's moustache away from literal.
The pre-condition is the point. And the readiness. I'm even ready for President-*Elect* Vance.
... as below, I read Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny" and we should have heeded his 20 suggestions 8 or 9 years ago - when he wrote the book.
President Biden is sleepwalking through the balance of his term. We have many who have pleaded with him to save lives by commuting all federal/military death inmates before January. So, he pardons his son in a wide-ranging edict, but nary a word in public response to the end of a hateful and hated execution policy initiated four years ago by Mr. T, who caused 13 executions in six months of his term at the end thereof - - all before January 6, 2020. Guess what's going to happen next year, folks?
Until we all ask God (in whatever form we frame Him) to help us straighten our national course so we can truly "stay (it)", He will probably let us all end like the Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, Germans, Russians and the rest of our godless historical prototypes, because we are those who go out of our way to "ignore history, (so) we will be condemned to repeat it". It may be too late already and I think it will take Divine intervention to help us out of this hellish whirlpool. If we do not ask, we will not receive.
Phil Johnson
AF 11384275
Number 2 on the list is the priority, IMO. The more effectively we can counter the massive 24/7/365 disinfo campaign, the easier it will be to take care of the other items. We can all do this on an individual scale by countering disinfo where we see it online. Fact check, cite reliable sources (as nonpartisan as possible), but don’t make it a personal attack. Use the “soft start-up” - like “This doesn’t appear to be accurate”. Avoid the word “you” - that will only elicit a defensive response. Don’t fight with the person making the false assertion. Provide the correct info with links and move on. You’re not going to change the alleged mind of a hard-core MAGA. Your goal is to inform the merely misinformed non-cult members. There are more of them than you think.
I never read Paradise Lost, but I did read Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and Berlin Diary.